Sail Away
by Daethule
Summary: Children's laughter unveils a surprise for Legolas.


A/N: hey all. I know I've kept you all waiting forever for an update, and I'm really really sorry. But real life has just been one big mess after another, and the cherry on top is that I just found out a week ago that we're moving halfway across the country in like five weeks.

Anyway, sorry to keep you all waiting. Here's a little one-shot I wrote and decided to give you while you're waiting for Princes of the Earth. (The next chap for POTE will be up soon, I promise.) See if you can guess where my inspiration for this fic came from! It's slightly odd, but it's supposed to be that way. It also could have been developed more, but hey, I wrote it during school. My brain was being sucked away.

Disclaimer: Don't own LOTR, or the inspiration for this fic, and dunno if it's ever been done before.

Sail Away

_Perhaps now is not the best time to go,_ my father had told me. I wonder if perhaps he had been right, and I should not have gone to Gondor. _I have just received news that several of the nobles' children drowned in a boating accident not a week ago._

_All the more reason for me to go._ Aragorn must be more stressed than usual, having to deal with the children's families, I decided.

My father accepted this logic. _Be careful, Legolas. There are still Orcs between here and Minas Tirith,_ he had warned me.

_I will._ And I did. I was in the realm of Gondor, nearly within sight of the White City. I would reach it some time the next morning, allowing my worn horse a respite near dawn.

My rest was disturbed by a sound and sense I knew all too well. Orcs. There were many of them. I knew I was close enough to the city of Men that if I rode quickly I could lose them in the protected realm.

The Orcs, seeing their would-be prey escaping, fired their short black arrows, but all fell to the grass around me, harmless as flowers. I topped a hill, and Minas Tirith was in sight, glimmering faintly in the dark. The Orcs knew they had lost me. In a last shot of desperation, one more arrow soared towards me, but I ducked just in time, and it was trodden under my horse's hooves as we passed.

The sun peeked over the horizon as I rode onto the Pellenor fields, and the city gleamed red as I passed through the tall, heavy gates. Besides the normal early-morning sounds of Men already wakened and working, I was also greeted by the tinkling echo of children laughing. I found this odd since the sun had just risen, but ignored it.

I rode up to the citadel, still aware of the children's laughter on the edge of my hearing. Upon inquiring of the king I learned he was already occupied with a matter of extreme importance that had suddenly come up. Told that it would take a while, I decided to satisfy myself with finding the source of the ongoing laughter.

It led me back down to the lowest level of the city, and I was surprised when I found myself at the river port, but it was definitely where the laughter was coming from. My curiosity was very strong by then, for I thought that children would have been warned to stay away from the river after the incident with the nobles' children.

I left my horse at the gate to the shipyard, continuing on foot. It was unmistakable now—the voices of laughter and playful shouting were coming from near the water's edge, though more quietly now. I thought I saw a quick shadow dart before my eyes and disappear behind one of the many boats.

_Did you hear about what happened?_ Another voice caught my attention. I turned quickly to see two men carrying a small paddleboat on their shoulders.

_I've heard whispers, but nothing definite, _the other man had answered. _Is it true about the Elf?_

_I saw it with my own eyes, I did, heard the guards talking about it. _I was caught on the conversation from the word _Elf_, even though I knew it was impolite to eavesdrop. _They found him not an hour ago. Said his body was still warm._

An Elf had died within the city? I had not even been aware that there was another Elf in Minas Tirith. I had taken a step towards the Men, but was halted by a child standing in my path, grinning up at me. Before I could react, he laughed and ducked away behind a small boat. A moment later I stood where I had seen him disappear, but there was no sign of him.

_How did he die?_ The Men's voices came back to me.

Orcs, no doubt about it. Shot through the neck. I saw it myself when they carried him in—up to the king—though they tried to hide it. Say he bled to death right within sight of the city.

My hand flew to my throat in horror. How awful! The guards had been too late to save him. I wondered who the Elf was, and if perhaps the same Orcs who had attacked me were responsible for his death.

Movement caught my eye and I looked down to find a young girl, only half my height, smiling up at me. Several other children skipped about behind her, laughing as they chased each other around the boats. The girl nodded slowly and held her hand out to me. The others paused in their actions and beckoned for me to come, their laughter lingering on the edge of my mind.

I hesitated before taking her hand in sudden understanding. She smiled widely and the children ran forward, taking my other hand and leading me towards the water. In that moment I forgot the two Men, I forgot Aragorn, my father, Eryn Lasgalen, the White City, myself. I laughed with them as I was led into a little boat.

One of the boys pushed off from the shore and the river carried us down willingly to the Sea, never to return.

The End.

See, I told you it was odd, did I not? But I like it…if I may say so myself. Which I just did. (: Anyway. Anyone guess where I got the idea? I'll tell you. It was an Outer Limits show a long time ago. A lady was driving along and she was distracted by her coke falling on the floor of her car or something, and this giant boulder comes rolling out of nowhere, but she manages to avoid it. So she goes to this lodge or something, and she's reading a newspaper where it says about how a school bus crashed and the children were killed. Meanwhile, there's kids running around in the woods laughing, and she turns the page of the paper. Then one of the kids nods at her or something, and she runs off with them into the woods. Then it shows the paper where it says about how a lady was killed in a car accident when her car got smashed by a giant boulder.

(And for all you observant people, you may remember that Legolas was told by a person that the king was in a meeting. The lady in the show also talked to a live person. Hey, it's Outer Limits! It's not supposed to make sense!)

I don't own Outer Limits either. I'm not _that _creative!


End file.
